Improvement in wheel for steam-carriages



R. W. THOMSON.

Traction Wheel.

No. 98,126. Patented Dec. 21, 1869.

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ROBERT WILLIAM THOMSON, 01r- EDINBURGH; GREAT BRITAIN.

Letters Patent No. 98,126 dated December 21, 1869 patented in England, April 21, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN WHEEL roR swEAM-oARmAGss.

'rhejsehedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part: of the same To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT WILLIAM Trromson, of Edinburgh, in the county of Mid-Lothian, Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, have invented anew and useful Improvemeutin \Vheels for Road-Steamers, for drawing, carrying, or travelling; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing, and ,to the reference letters marked thereon.

The object of my invention is to develop, to a fuller extent than has been hitherto attained, the now completely-established advantages of fitting road-steamers (also sometimes termed traction-engines) with wheels having tires of vulcanized or siniilarly-prepared rubber; and- It consists in applying separated segmental metal shoes upon the outer. surfaces of the rubber tire, and in perforating the-cylindrical metal shell of the wheel on which the-tire fits.

The shoes are madewith flanges, loosely embracing the sides of the rubber tire, and they are connected by links jointed to these flanges.

The shoes are arranged slightly apart, the spaces between them thus forming transverse grooves upon the outer treading-surfitce of the wheel; and, while the shoes protect the rubber tire, they also act as shallow teeth, and insure a proper adhesion or bite upon the ground, being of especial advantage in this way, as compared with the. bare rubber, when the groundsurface is in a semi-moist condition, known as greasy or pasty.

The perforations in the metal shell, at the inside of the rubber tire, allow air to get inuuder the rubber, which gives the rubber freedom of action in creeping slowly around the wheel, as it is found to do in practice.

And, in order thatpthers skilled in the art inay be enabled to .make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe my improved wheel.

Figure 1 is a face view, and Figure 2 is an edge view, partly in section. The body or frame A of the wheel is represented as builtup or constructed of wrought-iron plates,

strengthened by angle-iron; but that part may, :of"

course, be constructed otherwise,-if preferred.

The frame A is formed with a broad, shallow, circumferential groove, upon the bottom cylindricalsuaface, B, of which, the inside of the rubber'tire Obears. The shoes'D are plates of wrought-iron 0 suitable metal, and are formed with flanges, E, whichLare wide enough apart not to gripe the sides of the ru ber'tire.

1. The applying of separated segmental metal shoes to rubber tires of road-steamer wheels. 7

2. The perforating of the shell on which the rubbertire bears, in the manner and for the purpose tie-- scribed. v I In'testimony whereof, Isign my name-:to this; specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

R. W. THOMSOlN Witnesses:

EDMUND HUNT, WILLIAM PAGE. 

